Currently, the world is witnessing huge growth and development of renewable energy sources such as wind power, solar photovoltaics (PV) and thermal power, hydropower, wave and tidal power, etc. Along with the growth of renewable energy sources is the problem of matching energy generation with energy consumption and demand. For example, wind turbines only generate power when the wind is sufficiently strong. PV solar arrays only generate power when the sun is shining.
Peaks in energy demand, on the other hand, are not necessarily correlated with peaks in energy generation. In recent years, there have been efforts made to manage the electricity supply. The problem of efficiently handling irregular and non-constant energy supplies and variable demand for electricity still remains unsolved. For example, solar plants supply energy only during sunny days, and wind turbines supply power only when it is windy. Electricity demand is characterized by a peak, that requires more power stations to be built to supply the peak demand than necessary to supply the average demand.
There is thus a need for an energy system that both harnesses the irregular power generated by renewable sources as well as efficiently meets the energy demands of end users over time. In addition, there is a need for vehicles that incorporate such an energy system in order to improve the fuel efficiencies of vehicles over what is available today.